Knitting method

ABSTRACT

A method of making a sleeved garment on a knitting machine, the method including the steps of knitting a shoulder portion of each sleeve, in the direction towards the upper end of the sleeve, in reciprocatory manner on both beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine, so that the pieces of fabric of each shoulder portion on opposite beds are continuous at the edge of the shoulder portion outermost on the machine and in the finished garment, knitting the body of the garment commencing at the lower end and knitting front and rear upper body portions of the garment as flat fabric on different beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine and joining the front and rear upper body portions to the shoulder portions of the sleeves subsequent to knitting of these portions, for example by a stitch transfer procedure or a stitching procedure. A knitting machine for carrying out the method is also claimed.

United States Patent Betts et al.

54] KNITTING METHOD [72] Inventors: Max William Betts, Coventry; Frank Robinson, Borrowash, both of England [73] Assignee: Courtaulds Limited, London, England [22] Filed: July 17, 1969 [21] Appl. No.: 842,512

Primary ExaminerRonald Feldbaum Attomey-Davis, Hoxie, Faithfull & Hapgood 1 Feb. 8, 1972 1 ABSTRACT A method of making a sleeved garment on a knitting machine, the method including the steps of knitting a shoulder portion of each sleeve, in the direction towards the upper end of the sleeve, in reciprocatory manner on both beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine, so that the pieces of fabric of each shoulder portion on opposite beds are continuous at the edge of the shoulder portion outermost on the machine and in the finished garment, knitting the body of the garment commencing at the lower end and knitting front and rear upper body portions of the garment as flat fabric on different beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine and joining the front and rear upper body portions to the shoulder portions of the sleeves subsequent to knitting of these portions, for example by a stitch transfer procedure or a stitching procedure. A knitting machine for carrying out the method is also claimed.

4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEB 81972 SHEET 1 BF 2 I nuentor MAX WILLIAM BETTS and ROBINSON Davis, Hoxie, Faithfull & Hapgood Attorney PATENI EU IFEB a 3.640.097

, SHEET .2 [IF 2 V o o a a 0 a Q 00 o Q I o o I I n I x I lnvenlor MAX WILLIAM BETTS and FRANK ROBINSON Davis, Hoxie, Faithfull &: Hapg Attorney KNITTING METHOD This invention relates to a method of knitting a sleeved garment. The method can be carried out on a flat bar knitting machine of the kind comprising at least one pair of opposed needle beds, a reciprocating head with cam tracks to cooperate with the butts of needles slidably mounted in grooves or tricks in the needle beds for operating the needles independently of each other, and a plurality of yarn carriers to supply yarn for the production of knitted loops of yarn on needles which are operated by the reciprocating head for the purpose.

Flat bar knitting machines with opposed needle beds are well known and a description of flat bar V-bed machines is given, for example, in the Dubied Knitting Manual published in 1967 by the Edouard Dubied & Cie, Neuchatel, Switzerland. This Manual described mechanisms to manipulate and shift needle beds, yarn feed control mechanisms, loop transfer mechanisms and needle selection mechanisms, all of which are available on knitting machines currently in commercial production.

By the term sleeved garment we mean a garment comprising two sleeves and a body, each sleeve comprising a shoulder portion joined to an upper portion of the body from an underarm region of the body to the upper end of the body.

There are two commonly used methods of producing sleeved garments in knitted fabric. In one of these methods flat or tubular knitted fabric is simply cut into suitably shaped body portions and sleeves which are then secured together to form the garment, usually by stitching. In the other method the component body portions and sleeves are knitted to the shapes required by suitable increase or decrease of the numbers of stitches in the various coursesthe process known as fashioningand then again the edges are secured together;

usually by stitching.

In both these methods it is necessary to employ skilled labor for making up the garments by securing together the edges of the shaped body portions and sleeves. In particular it is an especially difficult operation to secure the sleeves to the body of a sleeved garment, so that in the finished garment the sleeves are accurately oriented with respect to the arrnholes in the body and disposed at the correct angle with respect to the body. Moreover, the seams produced are sometimes unsightly, and seem failure is a cause of complaint with such garments, either due to inefficient seaming or due to the weakness of the seam causing it to burst during wear. Also, in the firstmentioned process, a considerable quantity of fabric is usually cut to waste An object of the present invention is to provide a method of making a knitted sleeved garment which considerably reduces the amount of making up required to finish the garment compared with hitherto known methods of making such garments.

According to the invention a method of knitting a sleeved garment on a knitting machine includes the steps of knitting a shoulder portion of each sleeve, in the direction towards the upper end of the sleeve, in reciprocatory manner on both beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine, so that the pieces of fabric of each shoulder portion on opposite beds are continuous at the edge of the shoulder portion outermost on the machine and in the finished garment, knitting the body of the garment commencing at the lower end and knitting front and rear upper body portions of the garment as flat fabric on different beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine and joining the front and rear upper body portions to the shoulder portions of the sleeves subsequent to knitting of these portions.

The invention can be carried out on a flat bar knitting machine which comprises a pair of opposed needle beds for knitting the body of a garment, at least one pair of opposed needle beds which are separate from and movable with respect to the first-mentioned pair of beds for knitting the two sleeves of the garment, means for joining shoulder portions of the sleeves to the upper body portion of the garment subsequent to the knitting of these portions and yarn carriers arranged to supply yarn for the knitting of two sleeves and a body for the garment using separate yarns.

An example of a flat bar V-bed machine having two pairs of auxiliary beds above the main beds and which are movable relative to the main beds is the Dubied DFF machine manufactured by the aforesaid Edouard Dubied & Cie and described in the aforesaid "Dubied Knitting Manual." The DFF machine has auxiliary beds intended for the knitting of narrow selvage strips along the edges of a fabric, and although miniature garments (e.g.,v for dolls) can be knitted on the machine using hand transfer of stitches, according to the process of the invention, the automatic knitting of full size garments necessitates a few rather elementary modifications of the machine. In particular, the DFF auxiliary beds carry only sufficient needles to knit the loops of a narrow border of a garment, for example, 15 needles. Moreover, these needles and the cams controlling them do not include loop transfer facilities. Thus, to provide fully automatic manufacture of full size garments, the auxiliary beds of the DFF Machine are enlarged and provided with needles and cams and selection mechanisms for stitch transfer of the same type used for those functions in the DFF main beds and the needles in the auxiliary beds are arranged for the transfer of loops to needles of the opposite auxiliary beds or main beds. The main beds of the Dubied DFF machine contain needles each having a slot to receive the hook of an opposite needle so that a loop can be transferred from a slotted needle to the opposite needle. These needles also have a cranked configuration which avoids shogging or racking (i.e., lateral movement) of the beds to obtain the required needle alignment. Including such needles in the auxiliary beds make it possible to transfer stitches between the main and auxiliary beds, and the additional selection mechanisms will make it possible to take needles of the auxiliary beds out of action while maintaining knitted loops on the machine needles.

In the DFF machine, the auxiliary beds are pivoted on a transverse bar so that they can be swung to lift their needles clear of the knockover bits of the main beds during lateral movement. Lateral movement, to effect narrowing, is accomplished by means of a pawl on the cam carriage and may be carried out to the extent of almost half the length of the main beds for each pair of auxiliary beds.

It will be understood that the DFF machines and its components are simply exemplary of machines and mechanisms which may be used to practice the invention and that the invention may be performed on machines of other manufacture.

Since, by the method according to the invention, the sleeves are joined to the body before the garment leaves the knitting machine, the difficult operation of correctly orienting the sleeves in relation to the body during the final making up of the garment is entirely eliminated.

In one embodiment of the method according to the invention, the body and the two sleeves are knitted as three separate tubular fabrics up to the underarm region. The shoulder portion of each sleeve is then knitted in reciprocatory manner on the beds on which the knitting of the sleeve commenced, in each shoulder portion the pieces of fabric knitted on the two beds being continuous at the edges which are outermost on the machine and in the finished garment. During the knitting of the shoulder portions of the sleeves, the number of needles used to knit the shoulder portions is gradually reduced, in the case of each shoulder portion by taking successive needles out of action in an outwards direction on the machine. At the same time as the shoulder portions are knitted, the body is continued as separate flat fabrics forming the front and rear panels of the upper body portion. These flat fabrics are knitted on opposed beds of the machine.

During the knitting of the upper body panels, the number of needles used to knit each panel is gradually reduced from the outer edges of each panel inwards on the machine. This stage of the knitting is performed, in the present example, using four separate yarn carriers, one for each sleeve shoulder portion and one for each panel of the upper body portion. After this last-mentioned stage of the knitting has been completed, the courses of the shoulder portions of the sleeves are joined on the machine to the courses of the front and rear panels of the upper body portion by a procedure separate from the knitting process for example a stitch transfer procedure or a stitching procedure. In order to do this it is necessary to move the sleeve shoulder portions gradually inwards towards the panels of the upper body portion so that it is advantageous to knit the sleeves on beds which are separate from, and movable with respect to, the beds upon which the body is knitted.

It will, of course, be appreciated that during the knitting procedure outlined above, any desired narrowing or widening up to the underarm of the sleeves and body may be performed by conventional narrowing or needle introduction techniques. It will also be appreciated that short lengths of ribbed fabric may be knitted at the commencement of the sleeves and at the commencement of the body.

By the method according to the invention a complete sleeved garment can be integrally knitted to its final shape so that the seaming required is minimized.

The invention includes garments made by the method defined above.

The invention will now be described in greater detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a sleeved garment knitted by one embodiment of the method according to the invention,

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the parts of the garment at one stage during production of the garment,

FIG. 3 is a series of schematic diagrams of a flat bar knitting machine showing stages in the knitting of the garment shown in FIG. Land FIG. 4 is a further schematic diagram of a flat bar knitting machine showing a stage in the production of a garment by another embodiment of the method according to the invention.

The sleeved garment shown in FIG. 1 comprises a body 1 and two sleeves 2, 3. The sleeves 2, 3 comprise shoulder portions 4, 5 which are joined on the knitting machine with an upper portion 6 of the body.

The knitting of the garment shown in FIG. 1 will now be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3. In each of the diagrams of FIG. 3, the reference numerals 10, ll designate opposed main needle beds of a flat bar knitting machine each comprising a plurality of needles l2 spaced apart equidistantly in the two beds.

The reference numerals 13, 14 and 15, 16 designate needle beds of two further pairs of beds which are separate from and movable longitudinally with respect to the beds 10, 11. The pairs of beds 13, 14 and 15, 16 contain needles 17 and 18 respectively.

The number of needles shown is purely diagrammatic in order to simplify the drawing, and does not in any way relate to the number of needles that would be used in the knitting of the garment of FIG. 1. Further, the beds 13 and 14 and the beds 15 and 16 have been shown further apart from one another than the beds 10 and 11 for convenience of illustration. In practice, the beds 13 and 14 and 15 and 16 are mounted above or below the beds 10, 11 and their needles have relative positions similar to those of the needles of the beds 10, 11.

Diagram A of FIG. 3 shows a stage in the knitting of the body 1 and the sleeves 2, 3 from the lower ends of the body and sleeves, as tubular fabrics on needles of both beds 10, 11 in the case of the body and on beds 13, 14 and 15, 16 in the case of the sleeves. These three tubular fabrics are knitted with yarn supplied by separate yarn carriers 21, 22 and 23.

Machines equipped with several yarn carriers for knitting several separate pieces of fabric are well known, as for sample that illustrated on page 3l of the aforesaid Dubied Knitting Manual," and thus it is obviously possible to knit separate tubular portions on the main and auxiliary beds of a modified Dubied DFF-type machine using either single or double system.

Knitting of the body and sleeves is continued up to the underarm region of the garment and any necessary widening is performed by needle introduction.

After the tubular portions of the body and sleeves have been completed, the shoulder portions 4, 5 of the sleeves and front and rear panels of the upper body portions 6 are knitted simultaneously with yarn supplied by four yarn carriers, with a progressive decrease in the number of needles employed for knitting both the upper body portion panels and the shoulder portions of the sleeves. This stage of the knitting is illustrated in Diagram B of Fig. 3.

The shoulder portions 4, 5 of the sleeves are knitted employing reciprocatory knitting. In Diagram B of FIG. 3, the chain lines 27, 28 indicate how the knitting of the shoulder portions is performed using yard from the yarn carriers 21 23 respectively. In this diagram, the stitches which have just been knitted in the course under consideration are shown as circles around the needles 17 or 18, whereas the stitches knitted during previous courses, and held on inactive needles, are shown as squares around the needles. In the case of each shoulder portion, successive needles are rendered inactive in an outwards direction on the machine. So far as the sleeve 2 is concerned, this results in the formation of fabrics 31, 32 on the needles of the beds 13 and 14 respectively, which fabrics are continuous only at the edge of the sleeve which is outermost on the machine and in the finished garment. In like manner, fabrics 33 and 34 are produced on the needles of the beds 15 and 16 to form the shoulder portion 5 of sleeve 3, which fabrics are continuous only at the edge of the sleeve 3 which is outermost on the machine and in the finished garment. Since, during this stage of knitting, the number of needles involved in knitting the shoulder portions is gradually reduced from the innermost needles outwards, the shape of the sleeve shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is produced. The portions 20 and 3a of the sleeves are tubular and the shoulder portions 4 and 5 are formed of U-shaped reciprocatory courses asjust described.

Simultaneously with the knitting of the shoulder portions of the sleeves, the upper portion 6 of the body is knitted as flat fabrics 35 and 36 forming the front and read panels of the upper body portion 6, employing yarn supplied by the yarn carrier 22 and a further yarn carrier 37. The fabric 35 is knitted on needles of the bed 10 with yarn supplied by the yard carrier 22 and the fabric 36 is knitted on needles of the bed 11 with yarn supplied by the yarn carrier 37. As these flat fabrics 35, 36 are knitted the number of needles employed in each of the beds 10, 11 is gradually reduced in the inwards direction from each edge of the body of the garment so that, successively, needles carrying stitches of the fabrics 35, 36 are taken out of operation. Again, in Diagram B of FIG. 3 stitches of the current course are shown as circles around the needles whereas stitches held on inactive needles are shown as squares around the needles. By taking needles out of action as just described, the upper body panels 6 are shaped as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. After completion of the stage of knitting just described, the sleeves and the body of the garment, shaped as shown in FIG. 2, hang on the needles of the knitting machine by the edges 41, 42, 43 44 and 45. The broken lines 46 in FIG. 2 indicate that the adjacent parts of the garment are held on inactive needles in the needle bed and that this part of the garment is therefore not in the position shown, on the machine, but it is held on one of the needle beds.

When the knitting of the upper body portion panels and of the shoulder portions of the sleeves has been completed, the shoulder portions of the sleeves are joined on the machine to the edges of the upper body portion panels by a stitch transfer procedure or using a stitching mechanism incorporated in the machine, the sleeve portions being moved inwardly towards the upper body portion panels as the joining proceeds. In order to avoid any possible interference of the pairs of beds on which the sleeves are knitted during the joining together of the upper body portion panels and the shoulder portions of the sleeves of a Raglan style garment as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the joining of one sleeve shoulder portion to the front and rear upper body portion panels may be completed before the joining of the other sleeve shoulder portion to the other end of the upper body portion panels. In the knitting of other styles of garments by this method, however, it may be possible to join both sleeve shoulder portions to the upper body portion panels simultaneously.

A stitch transfer procedure for joining a sleeve to the upper body panels is illustrated in Diagram C of FIG. 3. In the upper part of the diagram the beds 15 and 16 have been moved inwardly along the beds and 11 and a loop from the fabric 35 has been transferred from a needle 49 of the bed 10 to a needle 50 of the bed 15. The transfer can be effected in one of several ways. For example a transfer point mounted above the needle beds as in commercially available V-bed knitting machines, can be arranged to descend to the needle 49, pick up its loop and then move to the needle 50 and deposit the loop. Alternatively, the loop on the needle 49 can be first transferred to an empty needle of the opposite auxiliary bed 16 and then from this needle to the needle 50 of the bed 15. Known transfer needles can be used to effect these transfers. Empty needles would, of course, have to be arranged to be at the inner ends of the beds 15 and 16 to enable stitches to be transferred to both beds in this way.

Whichever transfer system is used, it is arranged that the sleeve loop on needle 50 of the bed 15 is moved below the latch on this needle whereas the body loop transferred to the needle 50 is taken into the hook of the needle. The body loop is then pulled through the sleeve loop leaving the body loop on the needle 50 ready for a subsequentjoining operation.

The lower part of Diagram C shows a transfer of a sleeve loop to a needle on the bed 11. This loop will be taken into the hook of the needle and pulled through the body loop.

Transfers in either of the directions described can be made, but normally the transfers made at one time will be in the same direction in relation to the beds 15 and 16, that is either a loop will be taken off both beds or a loop will be transferred to both beds. The number of sleeve to body transfers compared with the number of body to sleeve transfers made in joining the sleeves to the body will depend on the shapes of the upper body portion and the shoulder portions of the sleeves.

Loop to loop joins are made in the manner just described and the beds 15 and 16 are moved progressively inwards as the edges 45 are joined to the edges 44 beginning at their adjacent ends (their lower ends in FIG. 2) and proceeding to the innermost ends of the edges 44 and the outermost ends of the edges 45. At the completion of the joining operation, the garment will hang on the needle beds 10 and 11 by needles holding loops of the edges 43 of the neck portion of the garment. Courses of waste yarn can be knitted onto the loops or they can be pressed off immediately in the normal way.

In Fig. 4 is illustrated a method of joining the sleeves to the body employing a stitching mechanism which carries out a linking operation. Loops are again transferred so that two loops are carried on the same needle but in this case both loops are gathered in the hook of the needle. Subsequently the needle is raised, bringing the two loops out of the hook and onto a loop spreader on the needle. A needle of a stitching mechanism (not shown) mounted on the machine is inserted through the loops. The needle of the stitching mechanism carries a linking yarn and a looper holds the linking yarn and forms a loop as this needle withdraws. The two loops are now cast off their needle and further transfer is made so that a further two loops are held on an adjacent needle. The stitching mechanism is now moved on to this adjacent needle and the two loops it carries are pierced by the needle of the stitching mechanism which also pierces the loop of linking yarn held by the looper. The two loops on the said adjacent needle are cast off, a further transfer is made, and the stitching mechanism is moved to effect a further linking operation and so on. The beds 15 and 16 are moved progressively inwards during the operation and after the sleeve 3 has been joined to the body the sleeve 2 is also joined to it in a similar manner.

Needles having loop spreaders are well known on commercially available V-bed knitting machines and mechanisms for carrying out linking operations are articles of everyday use in garment factories. It is an elementary modification of a V-bed knitting machine to mount on it a conventional linking mechanism capable of traversing along the beds and of linking together loops presented to it on the needles of the machine.

In FIG. 4, the linking of the loops is indicated by threads penetrating the two pairs of loops each held on one needle.

Transfers of loops can again be from body to sleeve or sleeve to body dependent upon the shapes of the upper body portion and the shoulder portions of the sleeves.

The methods described above can be modified in various ways. For example, the sleeves 2, 3 may each commence with a ribbed portion 52, S3 and the body with a ribbed portion 54 as indicated in FIG. 1. It is not, of course, necessary for the sleeves 2, 3 to have the length shown in FIG. 1. Thus, for example, the sleeves 2, 3 may end at the chain lines 55, 56 shown in FIG. 1. Again, the body 1 need not be in the form of a closed tube but may have an opening down the front as' indicated by the chain line 57 to provide a cardigan type of garment. Furthermore, the front panel of the upper portion of the body 1 may have a V-neck opening as indicated by the chain lines 58. Each rib border is knitted on needles of one bed and an opposite bedof another pair of beds and when the border is completed the loops on needles of the said opposite bed are transferred to empty needles of the said one bed intermediate those already holding loops. After the borders for the front or back of the body and sleeves have been knitted each of the other borders is knitted on the second bed of the pair of beds including the said one bed and a bed of another pair opposite the said second bed. At the completion of the borders, loops are transferred so that all the loops are on needles of thesaid second bed and knitting then proceeds for example in accordance with one of the procedures outlined above. Instead of using a knitting machine having two pairs of auxiliary beds for knitting by the methods described above, a machine having only two auxiliary beds can be used, the beds being long enough to allow the sleeves to be knitted on them at positions clear of the position where the body of the garment is knitted. The sleeves must then be joined to the body sequentially since both sleeves cannot be moved inwards on the machine at once.

The knitting methods described can also be carried out on a machine not having auxiliary beds by transferring all the stitches of the sleeves inwardly along the two opposed main beds of the machine during the sleeve-to-body joining procedure.

If the garment is knitted on a machine having a single pair of auxiliary beds extending the whole or substantially the whole length of the machine, the simultaneous knitting of three rib border portions, one for each sleeve and one for the body is facilitated.

When the garment is removed from the knitting machine, the pair of rib border portions at the front and back of the garment require to be seamed together.

Since in knitting the upper body portion of the garment and the shoulder portions of the sleeves the number of needles used is gradually reduced and some of the loops are held on inactive needles, it is preferred not to take down the fabric in the normal way. The garment is therefore preferably knitted, for example, on a machine having web-holding sinkers or a machine having a pressure foot, such as that described in British Pat. No. 867,678.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of making a sleeved garment on a knitting machine, the method including the steps of knitting a shoulder portion of each sleeve, in the direction towards the upper end of the sleeve, in reciprocatory manner on both beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine, so that the pieces of fabric of each shoulder portion on opposite beds are continuous at the edge of the shoulder portion outermost on the machine and in the finished garment, knitting the body of the garment commencing at the lower end and knitting front and rear upper body portions of the garment as flat fabric on different beds of rear upper body portions are joined to the shoulder portions of the sleeves by a stitching procedure.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sleeves are knitted on opposed needle beds which are separate from and movable with respect to the beds upon which the body is knitted. 

1. A method of making a sleeved garment on a knitting machine, the method including the steps of knitting a shoulder portion of each sleeve, in the direction towards the upper end of the sleeve, in reciprocatory manner on both beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine, so that the pieces of fabric of each shoulder portion on opposite beds are continuous at the edge of the shoulder portion outermost on the machine and in the finished garment, knitting the body of the garment commencing at the lower end and knitting front and rear upper body portions of the garment as flat fabric on different beds of a pair of opposed beds of the machine and joining the front and rear upper body portions to the shoulder portions of the sleeves subsequent to knitting of these portions.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front and rear upper body portions are joined to the shoulder portions of the sleeves by a stitch transfer procedure.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the front and rear upper body portions are joined to the shoulder portions of the sleeves by a stitching procedure.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the sleeves are knitted on opposed needle beds which are separate from and movable with respect to the beds upon which the body is knitted. 